Behind And In Front Of The Lens

I seem to be 'on set' all the time this year, either in front of or behind the lens. It started with the Liquigas-Cannondale presentation in Milan, then team camp in Sardinia, followed by a trip up north for Paris-Roubaix.

On the cobbles as driver and 'grip' with Gardy.

In May, Mt. Etna hosted a large crew for the shooting of the commercial that ran on Vs. during the Tour. Sicily remains one of my favorite places in the world. It's easy to see why. Nibali's pals from home provided more entertainment than I could handle.

Great bike, great rider, great scenery, great spot!

Here's a couple of shots from behind the lens...

... and here's the added footage. We shot a different version of this, where Vincenzo finishes off his day in the saddle and heads into 'his' apartment. Thank you, by the way, to the village of Zafferana Etnea. I had to stand in and show him how the scene would go... here it is. It's actually my first ride on an Evo as well!

The Amgen Tour of California had me doing my usual thing when Liquigas-Cannondale comes to the US; however this time, we filmed our way across California and posted them all on Cannondale's Off the Front page. Stage three's episode had me going through all the team's vehicle preparation. It was nice having all these clips as a travelogue for me, as I didn't take a single photo during the entire race!

So at the Tour de France last month, it was finally my turn to try my hand at being the 'talent' (and I take liberties with that term). It's my second Vs. spot so I think I'm getting pretty comfortable with all this. Aside from ducking the rain and finding a good location, it took all of five minutes to shoot.

Finally, Peloton magazine teamed up with Cannondale for a contest this summer with the grand prize being a trip to the Tour de France to help and be an intern for Liquigas-Cannondale. Our contest winners couldn't have been scripted any better. Joe had camera experience as a weatherman, while James works at one of Cannondale's top retailers in the west. Again, I was left with no photos, just great memories and a couple of cool videos! Check it out...

Passionately telling Ivan something!

So Let's Get This Started Again...

Sorry about that. It's been far too long. You know, you buy a house, put your best dog down, travel for a month and a half while the Mrs. packs all your stuff up, move back to the US and try to reorganize life as you knew it. Sometimes, life kinda gets in the way of blogging!

So I'm going to slowly and randomly update things now that I have a home office (corporate frowns on blogging at work, and rightly so!).

I've been reading a LOT lately about racing in Italy in the 30's and 40's, trying to grasp even more about how hard it was to race up to 400 kilometers on war-torn roads just so you could grab a couple of free meals. I typically lose interest once the book heads into the 50's and after Koblet, but of course there is always a big focus on Coppi and Bartali.

On that topic, it brings to mind a couple of close friends of mine from work, Arco and GianCa. If there were to be a Coppi and Bartali of Italian race mechanics, I'd say these are the guys. GianCa would be the old school Bartali and Arco the upstart Coppi. Both are highly acclaimed on the circuit and I've had the pleasure of turning business contacts into great friendships. This past week at the Tour de France, Gian Carlo received the Premio Fedeltà for having worked twenty Tours de France. The first Tour I worked with GianCa, an upstart South African team Barloworld won two stages and the polka-dot jersey aboard 'my' Cannondale bikes.

Congratulations, Gian Carlo!